Oct 1

Written by: Nick Matteucci
Thursday, October 01, 2009 9:19 PM

 
Here is my prediction for PPM in general and SaaS VPMi Professional PPM - specifically:
 

 
I believe resource, portfolio, and project management is going to continue to see decent growth in 2010 based on our CIO contacts and industry metrics.  SaaS will make up the vast majority of this growth as traditional enterprise players rush SaaS versions out the door and established players continue to target the SMB market.

However – VCSonline new customers sign-ups has exploded.  We are seeing an over 30% increase in new SaaS customers in this year, far outpacing even the industry darlings like Daptiv, Innotas, and @Task.

I will share something as to why I believe we are growing, hiring, and far outpacing the industry while competitors like Daptiv go through massive layoffs.

There are 3 BIG reasons that all companies can learn from: 
 
1) Charge less and make your product easier to use/digest into an organization:  Providing a simple and lower cost resource and project management service.  We provide immediate benefits at a fraction of the costs that Microsoft, Innotas, Daptiv, Oracle, HP, and @Task try to charge.

2) Invest in what maters most to your customers (and not anything that doesn't impact their use of your product or service).  We are the least expensive yet we spend more per customer then any of our competitors do on infrastructure, security, and performance.  We just make far less profit but need far less profit since we don't have Ivory towers, executives all making millions in bonuses and options, jets, and a million layers of management like our competitors do.

3) Directly show (in hard ROI dollars) how your solution will dramatically slash customers costs.  This is the biggest one right now.  You have to prove that they need your solution more then they need to hold on to their money.  Showing the ROI vs doing nothing, Excel, and your competition is the way to go.

I am bullish on 2010 with more CIOs forced to consider SaaS for their mid-office needs since they can’t afford traditional enterprise infrastructures and they are looking for lower cost and simpler to use solutions that still meet all their needs.

Ironically some day our children will ask "Dad, do you remember when people would pay Microsoft millions to setup servers, load enterprise software, and then install software on every company computer using disks?"  I will think back on days like that and say, "Yes, but barely son.  Those were dark times in IT best soon forgotten."

Warm Regards,
 
Nick Matteucci, Co-Founder www.VCSonline.com
VPMi = Simple + Sensible + Supportable SaaS Project Management
 
About the Author: Nick Matteucci is a co-founder of VCSonline.com a web 2.0 project management software company headquartered in St. Louis Missouri. Mr. Matteucci is also a recent board member and the Chief Technology Officer for the PMI ISSIG. When not obsessing over virtual project management best practices Mr. Matteucci enjoys spending time with his wife and three small children. He also enjoys travel, running, and all things automotive. 

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